Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In the 1st arc of this series Thanos went on a murder spree through the Eternals. Then some of them discovered the truth about their resurrection system. Every time 1 of them is re-'born' it is at the cost of the life of a human (or sometimes a Deviant as suggested in the Eternals: Celestia 1-shot). Ikaris, Kingo Sunen, Phastos, Sersi, Sprite and Thena moved to the Deviants' Lemuria to learn how to change (which seems to mean stopping getting into fights and 'dying').
Now we find Kingo, Sersi and Thena staying with Thena's latest Deviant lover Tolau The Delirious (who we briefly met in #3). His cliffside home is now besieged by angry Deviants who have arrived in a ship suspended from gasbags. But the Deviant leader Warlord Kro also shows up on his hovering throne to warn them off and greet the guests. Thena starts to explain the situation but he doesn't want to talk to his ex-lover. (And Tolau begins to think 'dating' Thena may not have been his best idea.) Instead he invites Sersi for a chat.
The 2 get on his throne which he moves out of hearing distance. Sersi *does* explain their predicament and Kro agrees they can stay, but to save face he must insist on them publicly abasing themselves before him. And also she must have dinner with him. They both agree that would be a bad idea so they'll do it. But as an afterthought he asks where the other 3 Eternal refugees are ...
Phastos and Sprite have accompanied Ikaris to the grave of 13-yr old Toby Robson. Ikaris had been given a vision that Toby was in danger and had sworn to save him, but it turned out that Toby was the life that resurrected Ikaris last issue. Sprite (who had been left to watch over Toby) says that visions never show you enough for you to be able to prevent them coming true. Phastos (who had been trying in vain to change the way the Resurrection Chamber worked, but instead unleashed Thanos) tells Ikaris that he's the type of hero who would always risk his life to save the day (as he did last issue) no matter what the cost. And adds that he has now dedicated his every waking moment to dealing with Thanos. But Ikaris flies off to confess to Toby's parents.
But when he gets there he's stopped by Jack Of Knives (1 of the 4 Tricks, Eternal crime lords) who's come to talk him out of it. It would not be in the Eternals' interest to have the world knowing this secret (and also someone's paying him) so anyone he tells will be killed. Ikaris threatens to kill *him* but Jack points out that would be against his new moral stance. And then he leaves as Mrs Robson comes out of her house to see what's going on. Ikaris can't risk calling Jack's bluff so he just tells her he's come to apologise for saving her son and offers to do anything she wants. And what she wants is to shout her grief and rage at him, which he accepts before flying away.
Meanwhile in the subspace tunnels of the Eternals' Great Machine Thanos is scheming with the Polarian Eternal Druig. When Phastos rescued Thanos from the black hole that he fell into in Guardians Of The Galaxy (2019) #6, he left him with an artificial heart and a damaged body that will shortly kill him. And also with a fail-safe kill switch that Phastos can trigger with a thought. But Druig wiped the memory of that from Phastos' mind in #6. Now they need to get Thanos' body properly healed. For that they need to make the Machine accept him as a true Eternal, but Druig says he doesn't know how to do that. But if Thanos were to be elected Prime Eternal then he could *make* it happen.
Thanos, the Shame of Titan, thinks this is a poor joke but Druig says he's been working on it. The Eternals are about to join together as the Uni-Mind to select their new leader, and Zuras is so confidant of being re-elected that he's not been campaigning. He's really convoking the Uni-Mind so he can mindwipe the Ikaris faction who have learned the secret behind their resurrections. As Sersi revealed last issue, this has happened many time before. If they don't join the Uni-Mind his re-election will strengthen his authority to hunt them down and mindwipe them.
Druig shows Thanos 1 of this series' info-displays showing the state of play. Zuras could normally rely on the Olympian votes but Ikaris and co are absent and Druig has used leverage to persuade some of the others to abstain. The Polarians would have supported Zuras too but Thanos has killed most of them and the remainder will follow their default leader himself. Oceanus, leader of the Oceanic Watch, will abstain as usual but the rest of the Watch are disaffected Uranites who will vote for Thanos. And Druig's bought the loyalty of the Tricks. The Celestial Priests are busy with their own concerns (as seen in Et: Celestia), as are the Damocles Foundation. The Titanos Hermits will live up to their name, and the Gaian Sisters don't care. The Excluded are of course excluded. The Forgotten never join the Uni-Mind specifically to avoid mindwipe. The Hex and those of Unknown Location can't be contacted. And Thanos himself now has a vote since the Machine recognised him as at least Eternal-ish. He rates it as Zuras 14-18 votes, Thanos 17-18, so Thanos has the edge.
Thanos asks Druig what's in it for him. Druig says he's always been low on the pecking order, but over the years as various 'great' Eternals fell from grace he's slowly risen in rank. But he knows that he can only ever be a king-maker not a king so his highest aspiration is to be the right-hand man of 1 such as Thanos. However the Machine tells us that Druig The Snake of course has more devious plans. When he deleted Thanos' self-destruct from Phastos' mind he copied it into his own, so he can get rid of the Titan when he's done with him.
Sersi returns to the others to find artist Tolau putting finishing touches to a statue of himself and Thena. Imperious Thena is sculpted from an alloy of secondary adamantium while beseeching Tolau is stitched together from chunks of perishable meat. He wants to finish it because he doesn't know how long he has left. (I'm not sure this if is because of the lumps we see growing on his arm or his fear of the wrath of Kro. The Machine hints at the Eternals being a threat to him.)
Zuras' administrator Domo has assembled all the Eternals who are coming, and Zuras begins the Uni-Mind. Druig tells cloaked Thanos that the Mind is supposed to be a place where the Eternal minds merge as 1 and a consensus emerges naturally. But he tells the Titan that it's really a bout of mental arm-wrestling so Thanos should find it easy. They slip into the merging and Zuras finds himself opposed by 1 who promises to replace the Celestial gods who have abandoned them and lead them to freedom, change and glory. Thanos wins the vote and Zuras is cast out. The Titan follows him and they fight. And then Thanos murders Zuras again (which is how #1 began).
The Eternals present accept the choice of the Uni-Mind, but below the surface is chaos. Druig suggests that they resurrect the many still-dead Eternals into the Exclusion until they can be persuaded to be loyal. But then Thanos does his 1st act as Prime Eternal. He crushes Druig's skull because he knew that the Snake would keep a copy of his kill-switch, and of course wouldn't share it with any others.